An organisation studying alternate histories in simulation

Otherwhen in the Arcturus system, a series of cybercosms housed in moon-sized computronium nodes

The Arcturus Institute is a Cyberian organization, so named because it was founded by a society of uploads who were living in a set of cybercosms around Arcturus. It specializes in speculation on possible branching in early Terragen history. Some members engage in simulations, up to and including entire virch or embodied societiums of sapient beings.

The Arcturus Institute has its origins in Otherwhen, a simulation edutainment that was popular among the human uploads who lived in the cybercosms of the computronium nodes around Arcturus, after the system was colonised in 1427 AT.

Before Otherwhen and its derivatives faded from popular culture the central idea of active reconstructions of possible historical realities attracted a core of more serious and dedicated individuals, including professional historians. This group developed a long-term mission to study and explore unrealized "counterfactual" histories. With a few exceptions the Arcturus Institute has concentrated on alternative histories prior to the First Federation: Old Earth at various periods up to the Great Expulsion, Solsys up to the beginning of the First Federation, and some of the early colonies of the Inner Sphere and their development during Solsys' Dark Ages. Over the course of time, through some of the odd chances and coincidences of exactly the kind that the Institute itself finds fascinating, the organization has grown and spread and acquired an interstellar membership. Though most members are still modosophontuploads and aioids it is open to any interested being, and includes many embodied beings as well as aspects of some low to middle level transapients.

The vast majority of the Arcturus Institute's activities are in the realm of speculation and mathematical modelling, but in pursuit of its goals some of its factions have created extensive and highly detailed simulations, up to and including full "bottle-world" virches or entire embodied societeums. It is these that have attracted the most popular attention; on account of them the Institute has come under heavy criticism from those who hold to a stricter interpretation of the Universal Bill of Sentients' Rights, particularly where the simulation results in war, disaster, or repression. Over the years there have been instances of assaults on offending individuals or chapters of the Arcturus Institute or attempted rescue missions on behalf of their simulations' inhabitants. As a result many such 'full' simulations and reconstructions are covert, hosted well away from the full gaze of the Civilized Galaxy. Despite this ethical shadow, the Arcturus Institute's results and data have been used extensively by other organizations. In particular, Metasoft representatives have often used this information in the formation and management of its Human Baseline Reserves, though apparently Metasoft representatives have not participated directly in any of the Institute's historical re-creations.

Similar organizations have come and gone over the millennia and some, such as the 'Orion's Arms' virchworld maintained by the transapient known as Query are even more ambitious. However the Arcturus Institute is the oldest and most widespread of its kind. It is still concentrated in the Inner Sphere but it has become associated with the Cyberians over the past few millennia and representatives may be found almost anywhere in Terragen space.

The Institute has recently come to more widespread public attention since the discovery of the so-called Amerindian Worlds, since there is some evidence that the mysterious transapient who authored them was or is a member.

Eklund ISO - Text by Anders SandbergHistorical Keterist world, exploiting the tremendous computing resources of the ISO for historical simulations/recreations (often called retreations) based on all available evidence and the self-consistency of history. Beside the Institute of Long-Range Cliology it is also known for the the Resurrection Orbit, a corporate brotherhood specializing in resurrecting versions of historical persons from the Institute retreations.